Route 66 Motor Speedway adds digital scoring system

Route 66 Motor Speedway scorekeeper Travis Worthen monitors the results that come through the speedway's new electronic scoring system, which was installed before Saturday's races. The system uses transmitters on the cars and a sensor underneath the flagstand to automatically produce lap-by-lap results on a computer in the press box.

Related Links

If drivers at Route 66 Motor Speedway don’t agree with where track officials line them up for a restart, they can no longer blame Jill Marufo and her colleagues in the press box.

Marufo is one of the racetrack’s three scorekeepers and has typed the results of each lap on her manual 10-key adding machine for nearly two decades, but the track implemented an electronic scoring system Saturday for the first time in its 20-year history.

Each car is now fitted with a transponder that responds to a sensor buried in the track each time the car completes a lap, track owner Bill Worthen said.

The sensor relays the information to a computer run by his son, Travis, in the press box that displays the running order after each lap, Worthen said.

“It will make our lineups a lot faster and everything on restarts,” he said. “All you’ve got to do is hit a button and it will tell you where every car was.”

Along with improved accuracy, it should also speed up the restart process and make the racing experience better for everybody at the racetrack, from drivers to track officials to the average 3,800 fans who attend the races each Saturday, said Shane Elliott, who drives the No. 58 street stock car.

“It takes the errors out of the scorekeepers,” Elliott said. “I haven’t seen a lot of errors there, but I’m sure it’s a lot easier for them.”

Elliott was correct, Marufo said.

Until now, the track had used three scorekeepers who compared notes after each race to confirm the results, she said.

“We’ll probably all just work together and decide how we’re going to incorporate it into all of our lives,” Marufo said. “It won’t affect us much at all except that we’ll have a little bit more time off. We’ll get to watch some races and enjoy it.”

The $25,000 system the track installed is a trimmed-down version of similar systems major racing series such as NASCAR and the IZOD IndyCar Series use, Worthen said.

“It’s an expensive system, but it’s pretty much foolproof,” he said.

The track also will soon release an app that will allow fans and pit crew members to see lap times and results live on their smartphones, Worthen said.

He said he also has received positive responses from the drivers, including an ovation when he announced at the June 15 drivers meeting the track would move to electronic scoring, he said.

“I think it’s great because there will be no human error involved in it,” said Justin Johnson, who drives the No. 6 car in the street stock class.

Worthen admitted electronic scoring is something the track probably should have had years ago, but it wasn’t a cheap improvement and is the largest technological upgrade the track has made since it opened in 1994, he said.

The track also charges drivers $5 each week to run the transponders, which will help offset some of the cost of the new system, Worthen said.

The Route 66 officials also got a chance to observe a similar system when the United States Modified Touring Series raced June 22 at the track. Track offiicials also held a practice Thursday to make sure the new setup worked correctly, Worthen said.

“We played with it a little bit and kind of got the basics down,” he said.

Johnson said the new system is a sign to drivers the track is dedicated to maintain up-to-date facilities and host top-quality races.

“From a driver’s standpoint, I think it’s very important to stay on top of the newer technology,” Johnson said. “It just makes your life easier. From the standpoint of the track, I think it’s pretty important for them, also. The same thing; it makes their job easier.”